1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to water filters, and more particularly to a filter housing which accepts multiple, replaceable, reverse osmosis and carbon filter elements within a single housing. The filter elements are disposed in a serial arrangement for filtering purposes. Ultra-violet rays from a central core provide further bacterial purification of filtered water. The housing accommodates flushing without requiring removal for the filter elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In light of many contaminants which may become entrained in water supplied by domestic plumbing systems, it is desirable to filter the water prior to employing the same for human consumption. Many filters are commercial products featuring filter cartridges which are readily installed and serviced by residential occupants who may lack specialized skills as a plumber. These filters conventionally comprise housings which enclose one or more filtering elements. Consequently, separate replaceable filtering elements are readily available from commercial sources.
A filter seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,869, issued to Zaharias Krongos on Dec. 25, 1973, has a housing formed in two threadably mating parts, which housing encloses plural replaceable filter elements. The filter of Krongos lacks the flushing circuitry, reverse osmosis filtering, serial filtration circuitry, UV irradiation, and inlet and outlet arrangement of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 30,366, issued to M.W. Warne on Oct. 9, 1860, shows a vessel having plural compartments, each containing filtration material and connected in series. The device of Warne lacks the reverse osmosis filtration, UV irradiation, flushing circuitry, inlet and outlet arrangement of the present invention, readily replaceable filter cartridges capable of holding their form without supporting, surrounding walls, and adjustable compression of such filter cartridges, all being features of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 136,364, issued to Walter M. Conger on Mar. 4, 1873, illustrates a filter having filter elements disposed in series and also flushing circuitry. However, the device of Conger lacks the threaded, separable, two part housing of the present invention, reverse osmosis filtration, UV irradiation, flushing circuitry contained within a part of the housing, adjustable compression of filter cartridge elements, and the inlet and outlet arrangement, and internal flow scheme of the present invention.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
The present invention provides a readily installed and serviced filter apparatus which employs readily available filter cartridges and which further enables ready flushing. The novel filter apparatus includes a two part housing which can be opened to expose the plural filter cartridges without interrupting liquid connections. The filter has one threaded liquid inlet and three threaded outlets, one outlet for filtered water and two for the discharge of waste when flushing.
The filter apparatus accepts a plurality of carbon and reverse osmosis filter cartridges. Internal liquid flow circuitry passes water in a serial routing through the several cartridges. This ability may be exploited to subject all water to filters designed to trap different contaminants. An ultra-violet source at the core of the filter housing provides irradiation for additional purification of the filtered water. The filter can be flushed automatically or with minimal difficulty, in particular requiring neither removal of the filter cartridges nor disassembly from the domestic plumbing system. The filter is configured to assure that water employed for flushing will not be discharged in common with filtered water.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a water filter readily connectable to a domestic plumbing system.
It is another object of the invention to provide a water filter which accepts plural filter elements.
It is a further object of the invention that the filter employ commercially available filter cartridges.
Still another object of the invention is to enable flushing without requiring removal of filter elements.
An additional object of the invention is to prevent water employed to flush the filter from being discharged in common with filtered water.
It is again an object of the invention to provide a filter housing which opens to expose filter elements without requiring disassembly from the domestic plumbing system.
Yet another object of the invention is to enable compression of the housing to secure filter cartridges.
Still another object of the invention is to provide serial and parallel flow through multiple filter cartridges.
Another object of the invention is to provide filtration by reverse osmosis through at least one filter cartridge.
An additional object of the invention is to provide UV irradiation of the water being filtered.
Another object of the invention is to provide improved elements and arrangement thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.